10 more charges against former PKMS president

[youallhumsup]

10 more charges against former PKMS president

Published on Sep 16, 2011​

The former president of Singapore National Malay Organisation or PKMS, Ali Asjadi, was on Friday accused of 10 more charges of mainly storing contraband cigarettes at the Changi Road headquarters. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

By Elena Chong

The former president of Singapore National Malay Organisation or PKMS was on Friday accused of 10 more charges of mainly storing contraband cigarettes at the Changi Road headquarters.

This brings the total number of charges against Ali Asjadi, 54, to 12.

Ali, who was stripped of his membership and duties on Sept 11, was first brought to court on Sept 10 with dealing in 242kg of cigarettes with unpaid duty of $85,208 and evading GST of $7,438 at the backlane behind the PKMS Building.

He allegedly committed the offences with an Indonesian, Atlis Suryanto, 40, who has also been charged.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.

 

[youallhumsup]

Ex-PKMS chief to plead guilty to charges involving contraband cigarettes
By Shaffiq Alkhatib | Posted: 23 September 2011 1853 hrs

SINGAPORE : The former president of the Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS), Ali Asjadi, told a district court on Friday that he intends to plead guilty to six of the 12 charges he currently faces involving contraband cigarettes.

But the case has been adjourned to October 7 as court papers were not in order.

Ali, 54, was offered a bail of S$200,000 but he told District Judge May Mesenas that he is unable to raise this amount.

The cigarettes he allegedly dealt with are worth S$255,196.

They have an unpaid duty totalling S$204,082 and the unpaid Goods and Services Tax on them come up to S$17,863.

Ali was stripped of party membership earlier this month after he was arrested for allegedly dealing with the some 600 kilogrammes of cigarettes.

Ali, who may face millions of dollars in fines if convicted, can also be jailed up to three years for each charge.

In two of the charges, he allegedly worked with a 40-year-old Indonesian man, Atlis Suryanto, who pleaded guilty on Friday to two of the four charges against him.

Atlis pleaded for leniency and told Judge Mesenas that he is the sole breadwinner in his family, with three young children to support.

Atlis, who was here on a social visit pass, will be back in court next Friday.

He was offered a bail of S$100,000.

- CNA/ms

 

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Ex-president of opposition PKMS jailed and fined
By Teo Xuanwei | Posted: 07 October 2011 1344 hrs



Ali Asjadi, 55, pleaded guilty to six charges. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

SINGAPORE: The former president of opposition party Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS), Ali Asjadi, has been sentenced to 30 months' jail and fined S$8,200 for dealing with contraband cigarettes.

The 55-year-old had faced a total of 12 charges for dealing with nearly 580 kilogrammes of duty-unpaid cigarettes.

The prosecution proceeded with six of these charges and took the remaining into consideration for the purposes of sentencing.

Ali had used the party headquarters to store the contraband cigarettes and was exposed following a raid by customs officers on September 10.

He was stripped of his membership and all duties by the party's Supreme Executive Council the following day.

Three other men involved in the case were sentenced last month while another man has claimed trial.

Giving details leading to Ali's sentencing on Friday, Singapore Customs said they mounted a 10-hour operation on September 9 around the PKMS Building at 218 Changi Road.

At 3.15 am on September 10, they saw a van stopping next to a truck in a backlane. The van driver, 28-year-old Muhammad Azmi Tahir, and passenger 19-year-old Muhammad Sharmizan Mazlan, got off and were seen moving boxes to their van.

Customs officers swung into action and prevented the men from fleeing. They found Ali and another man, 40-year-old Atlis Suryanto, in the rear compartment of the truck.

All four were arrested, with 10,052 packets of contraband cigarettes in both vehicles seized.

When checks were done within the PKMS building, 14,300 packets of contraband cigarettes were found hidden in various locations such as the staircase landing on the ground floor, two rooms, and the office used by Ali.

Another 57 packets of contraband cigarettes were also found in Ali's car.

Investigations revealed that Ali was in cahoots with an unknown Indonesian supplier.

A fifth man, 56-year-old Rahmad Kamar, who was also involved, was arrested in Bedok on September 19.

Singapore Customs said 24,460 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes worth more than S$255,000 were seized. The total excise duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded exceeded S$221,000.

For their involvement in contraband cigarette activities, Atlis, Sharmizan, and Rahmad were sentenced to 15 months, six months, and 10 months jail respectively.

Azmi has claimed trial.

Singapore Custom said buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, having in possession or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act.

Those found guilty of these offences will be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or jailed up to six years.

- CNA/cc/ac